Matt Aselton

Director Matt Aselton was making 'little retarded movies' from an early age, but his talent for spotting the comic or absurd in everyday situations has forged a unique, award-winning style, says Danny Edwards

"The weirdest thing," laughs Matt Aselton, "is that everyone keeps saying to me, 'you know, having a baby's really going to change your life'. I mean, the idea that I thought that my wife launching a child wasn't going to change my life is just odd." Fatherhood, and the resultant lack of sleep, has not dimmed Aselton's comedic perspective. The successful commercial and soon-to-be feature film director is a man who likes to see the funny side of life.
"The film courses I took were total theory, so I'm a completely self-taught director - moving from dilettante to amateur to kind-of- not-so-much-of-an- amateur-anymore." Recent spots for Starburst [shots 95], T-Mobile and Time Warner [both shots 102] have proved that comedy comes naturally to the 36-year-old American. Or, rather, absurdity comes naturally, seeing as his main filmic influence is David Lynch, himself no stranger to illogicality. "Lynch, especially his Twin Peaks, was a really big deal for me in high school," says Aselton. "It was beautifully done and very stylised, but also really absurd. He was able to make you believe these absurd things and make you think they were real. I thought that was a magical thing. To this day he's one of the people who influences me the most."

Aselton's ascent is due to a combination of talent, judgement and, he admits, luck. The young Aselton liked nothing more than messing about with friends and a video camera to make what he refers to as 'little retarded movies'.

Fast-forward a few years, some film classes and more than a few of the aforementioned retarded movies and a slightly older Aselton gets a call from a friend who worked at an advertising agency. "I had been painting houses in Maine until then. My friend hired me because I had been shooting stuff on my own for a long time. He asked me to join his agency [Young & Rubicam New York], and I went there thinking I could direct, because I knew nothing about advertising. I soon found out, though, that the agency was pretty reluctant to let you direct."

After three years as an art director at Y&R, Aselton and the friend who'd initially hired him started their own agency; Union. That allowed him to both create and direct the projects that they worked on. While heading for a directorial route was what Aselton wanted, it was still nerve-racking. "The film courses I took were total theory, so I'm a completely self-taught director - moving from dilettante to amateur to kind-of-not-so-much-of-an-amateur-anymore," he says. "I grew up with cameras, so technically it wasn't too daunting. But what was daunting was the idea of taking someone's budget and fulfilling a brief, but also doing it the way I wanted. When you're making your own little movies you have the luxury of independence. Then suddenly you turn around and there are 12 people saying 'try it that way', or 'what about this?'. For me, it was the biggest learning curve - sorting out who you're supposed to listen to, and the politics involved." "I often sense fear in the US. One person is always afraid of the person above them who in turn is afraid of the guy who's not there. That's not a great way to make a commercial - or indeed to make anything." The anxiety of working with clients and agencies on a project has long since evaporated, however. Dan Fietsam, executive creative director at Publicis West Seattle, the agency behind the T-Mobile campaign, can attest to that. "Collaboration is an over-used word, but it's true in Matt's case," he says. "The best directors I've worked with - the A level people - understand that it's a dynamic process. And he thrives on that."

When talking about the politics of a shoot, Aselton is mainly referring to his own country rather than Europe. The US, he thinks, could take a leaf out of Europe's book and be a little looser. "It's a little more open minded [in Europe] than it is in the States," he claims. "I often sense fear in the US. One person is always afraid of the person above them who in turn is afraid of the guy who's not there. That's not a great way to make a commercial - or indeed to make anything. When I've worked in Europe there doesn't seem to be that 'Oh Jesus, what's going to happen when Jim finds out?' factor."

Luckily, Aselton need not worry about 'Jim' and his overbearing ways as most of what Aselton touches seems to turn to gold, not least his Volkswagen Passat campaign for Crispin Porter + Bogusky, which won a gold at Cannes this year. The VW campaign, though, was almost a departure from Aselton's normal foray into the world of comedy. As well as the recent Starburst, Time Warner and T-Mobile spots, he has also worked on campaigns for TLC, Comedy Central and the bronze Lion-winning ad for CBS's Ghost Whisperer. "I would love to say that there's a plan there and that I aim to do all these comedy scripts, but I just end up getting that kind of stuff," says Aselton. "I am attempting to do more visual storytelling, though, without dialogue or funny actors or people jumping out of windows and stuff like that."

Though directors are usually keen to avoid being pigeonholed through being associated with a specific type of spot, Aselton's not too concerned with being tagged as he doesn't see too much difference in the varying genres. "The difference between a comedy director and any other director is not that big," he says. "It still involves a camera, a setting, actors and making the actors do what you want. A lot of the time I don't view these commercials as comedic. I try to approach them as honestly as possible and get real, not necessarily comedic, performances from people. David Lynch did the same thing; if you have an absurd situation and you approach it absurdly then it's a joke on a joke on a joke, but if you approach an absurd situation honestly then you have something different at work there."

Aselton is now set to tackle the world of feature films. He has written and will begin directing a script next spring, and has teamed up with independent company, Killer Films. How Lynchian it will be, Aselton wouldn't reveal, but while he's excited by the challenge, he's not likely to jump the commercials ship for good. "I've had a great time making commercials and it's been a great experience for me," he says. "They're like films in their own way; there's an idea there, it comes together and then it goes away. Films are the same: it's just that they take three months, whereas commercials take three weeks."